PKL 2019 | Deepak Niwas Hooda stresses on importance of having good start
PKL
After winning their first three matches, Jaipur Pink Panthers skipper Deepak Niwas Hooda has expressed his delight over the kind of start that they got in the league. Although he is playing as the primary raider, Deepak Niwas explained that he will contribute in the defence if the team wants.
Jaipur Pink Panthers are still unbeaten in the seventh edition of the Pro Kabaddi League after beating U Mumba, Bengal Warriors and Haryana Steelers in their first three games of the ongoing season of the PKL. The team is led by Deepak Niwas Hooda who is also having a great time as their primary raider while Sandeep Dhull and Amit Hooda are also performing well at the two corner positions for the team.
Ahead of their next game against Patna Pirates on Saturday, Deepak spoke to SportsCafe and talked about the atmosphere in the team after three consecutive wins to start the season on a very good note.
“The environment around the team is really good and I also feel really good. A team always needs a good start and our focus is on seeing how well we can play in the upcoming matches and take the team forward,” Deepak told SportsCafe.
“We are not seeing ahead we are taking one match at a time as this is just the starting. We will focus on how to win the upcoming match and then go on from there.”
Out of the three games, the matches against Mumba and Haryana were lopsided clashes, while they had to face a tough fight against Bengal Warriors. However, a good show towards the end by both the departments ensured a 27-25 win for the inaugural champions. Speaking about the Bengal encounter, the skipper said, “We knew the match was going to be close as Bengal was playing really well, so we went with the mindset that we are going to play the match till the 40th minute and aren’t going to leave the match whether we are in the lead or lagging behind no matter what the situation.”
“I asked the players not to worry about being behind and told them that we can pull the match and gave them the assurance that we can do this and we have to fight till the end. So we fought till the end and won the match.”
The team was led by Captain Cool Anup Kumar in the sixth season of the league but towards the end it was Deepak who had to shoulder the responsibilities of being the leader. Deepak, who is considered as one of the better all-rounders in the sport, is now seen playing as a primary raider only. He is not getting a lot of opportunities in the defence and has already collected 31 raid points from three games without a single tackle. However, he is all pumped up and wants to contribute in the defence as well whenever the team will want his defensive skills on the mat.
©PKL“As I am a raider, I play as the primary raider of the team but if my team needs me in defence, I am going to do that as well. We practised in the camp according to this scenario only so that is the focus for now because it’s a long season,” the all-rounder stated.
“I have enough support in Nilesh Salunkhe, Ajinkya Pawar, Nitin Rawal, Deepak Narwal and Sachin Narwal. So, I have enough support in the raiding department. Just because they haven’t scored many points, it doesn’t mean they won’t. This happens sometimes that you can’t score in some matches and as I said there are still many matches to be played.”
As contrary to the raiding department, the defence has done well as a unit, especially the two corners - Sandeep Dhull on the left and Amit Hooda on the right, have put up some great performance which has helped the side really well. Dhull has 15 tackle points so far in the tournament but all eyes will be on Amit when they take on Patna Pirates today as Pardeep Narwal is the main raider in the Pirates team and is left-handed.
“Both the corners and covers of the team are performing well, Amit Hooda did well and scored a High Five in the match against U Mumba and in the last match (against Bengal), Sandeep Dhull did the same so for us. Both our corners are performing really well. Our cover position are doing a good job too. If a team wins, it means that everyone is doing well as everyone can’t get High Five on the same day,” the skipper mentioned.
Coach Srinivas Reddy is at the helm of the Pink Panthers for the seventh season as well, and Deepak talked about the experience that he has and the captain-coach partnership with Reddy.
“Srinivas Reddy is a very sorted coach and he is a gentlemen-type person. He makes us understand things like a big brother and a coach. He has a lot of patience and explains things in a very nice manner. He has focused on our offence, defence and fitness a lot and we can see the result of that now as well. The difference from last year's performance was all because of coach Srinivas Reddy and he plays the most important role in our success.
“We had a two-month pre-season camp. The first month was dedicated to fitness only as if you want to play for three months, you need extreme fitness. So we have prepared a lot for that and even now in our day to day activities, we are very conscious about our fitness and focus a lot on it. We won’t be able to survive three months if we are not fit enough for it,” Deepak signed off.
